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Read this first if you're going to work for a startup
or getting VC funding.
The main purpose of a corporation is to make money. Period. Nothing else. That being said, the purpose of a manager is to make you do an amount of work for the least amount of money. To put it in a not-so-nice way, they want to rip you off without you feeling ripped off. Here are some key pointers to follow if you don't want to be ripped off:
Must Do
- do your homework, compare
- be firm on demand. No negociation. Demand honest resolution.
- Threaten to leave. Leave.
Watch out for manager's psychological game and high sales pitch
- Intimidation, psychological pressure and threat:
- "people who truly believe our product (service, whatever) will do your job no matter the options/salary"
- "Your co-workers are happy with what they have, why not you?"
- "If you go, others will simply replace you"
- "We hired you as a trash engineer, so whether you know X/Y/Z or have a Phd does not change your compensation."
- "You are stupid if you are not interested in joining us"
- "You have been promoted to Fancy Title XYZ, why bother the salary?"
- Powerless claim:
- "CEO instructed me that there is no raise, so no raise for you, but I'm nice so I give you an exception... 1% raise!"
- "I know very little business detail, so there is nothing I can tell you about the compensation."
- Empty promise:
- "Our startup is good is because it is backed up by powerful X/Y/Z"
- "When we go IPO in less than 1 year, you and your wife can buy a house, etc..."
- smaller risk because our product X/Y/Z is better than all of our competitors
- "We have the best team/good product and no one will beat us. We WILL go IPO."
- Complicated Equations
- How much better ISO is
- Lay down fancy equations why the company WILL go IPO
- How your small salary will be offset by the IPO (the truth is, IPO is not a guarantee)
- REMEMER, DO NOT trade salary over options
- Number of shares that are currently outstanding. ? Including options that have not been assigned to anyone yet.
- Future financing? How many more rounds of financing before going ipo? How much money are they planning to raise? That will determine how much dilution you will have.
- Option price?
- Does the company allow early exercise? That is for tax advantage.
- Make your offer stand after your date or whenever you can exercise your first chunk of options.
REMEMER, your manager may be nice and your CEO may be nice, but the fact of the matter is that they are running a business and their #1 purpose is to get the most from you for the least amount of money. They are all trying to rip you off. Business people may be friendly on the outside but they are always stingy assholes when it comes to compensation.
Here are some common CS/EE related technical questions that you may find helpful in an interview:
theory
sys adm